Gothic Kabbalah

Gothic Kabbalah is the thirteenth full-length album by Swedish metal group Therion. It was released in Europe on 12 January 2007. The album was mixed by Stefan Glaumann, who also contributed to bands such as Rammstein, Evergrey, Europe and Def Leppard. The main line-up has been slightly changed since previous studio albums (Lemuria and Sirius B): Petter Karlsson returned to play drums, having already played with the band during Lemuria / Sirius B tour during the period of 2004–2006. Since Christofer Johnsson announced in 2006 he is retiring from singing,[2] vocals on Gothic Kabbalah were performed by Mats Levén, as well as Snowy Shaw and three female singers: Katarina Lilja, Anna Nyhlin and Hannah Holgersson.

Gothic Kabbalah
Studio album by
Therion
Released12 January 2007
RecordedJuly–September 2006
Stockholm, Sweden
GenreSymphonic gothic metal, progressive metal[1]
Length83:29
LabelNuclear Blast
NB 1780-0
ProducerStefan Glaumann
Therion chronology
Celebrators of Becoming
(2006)		 Gothic Kabbalah
(2007)		 Live Gothic
(2008)

The album is based on concepts from the life of 17th-century esoteric scholar Johannes Bureus.

Track listing

All lyrics by Thomas Karlsson. Music as indicated:

Disc one
  1. "Der Mitternachtslöwe" (Christofer Johnsson, Mats Levén) – 5:38
  2. "Gothic Kabbalah" (Petter Karlsson) – 4:33
  3. "The Perennial Sophia" (Johan Niemann, Levén, P. Karlsson) – 4:54
  4. "Wisdom and the Cage" (Kristian Niemann, P. Karlsson) – 5:01
  5. "Son of the Staves of Time" (Levén) – 4:47
  6. "Tuna 1613" (P. Karlsson, Snowy Shaw) – 4:23
  7. "Trul" (P. Karlsson) – 5:11
  8. "Close Up the Streams" (Johnsson, Levén) – 3:55

Disc two
  1. "The Wand of Abaris" (Johnsson, K. Niemann) – 5:51
  2. "Three Treasures" (Johnsson) – 5:20
  3. "Path to Arcady" (K. Niemann, P. Karlsson) – 3:54
  4. "TOF – The Trinity" (K. Niemann, Levén, P. Karlsson) – 6:18
  5. "Chain of Minerva" (J. Niemann, Levén, P. Karlsson) – 5:21
  6. "The Falling Stone" (P. Karlsson) – 4:46
  7. "Adulruna Rediviva" (Johnsson, K. Niemann) – 13:37
  8. "Seven Secrets Of The Sphinx" [Live]* - 3:48
  9. "To Mega Therion" [Live]* - 6:45
  • *Bonus Tracks.

Vinyl release

Gothic Kabbalah has been also released as limited edition double LP vinyl (180 gram; 33⅓ rpm). It features colored vinyl, gatefold cover and it has been released in 1000 hand-numbered copies.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
PopMatters link
Chronicles of Chaos link
Metal Invader link

The album has received generally good reviews from critics, including Chronicles of Chaos[3] and Allmusic hailing it as "the first truly great rock opera of the 21st century".[1]

The album was the band's first to enter the Swedish Albums Chart.[4]

Chart positions
Chart (2007) Peak
position
Greece[5] 5
Poland[5] 21
Sweden[6] 26
Netherlands[5] 55
France[7] 58
Germany[5] 59
Switzerland[8] 73
Hungary[5] 74
Belgium[5] 84
IndieHQ Independent Sales Chart[9] 156

Personnel

Guest musicians
  • Mats Levén – lead vocals ("Der Mitternachtslöwe" (choir), "Gothic Kabbalah", "Perennial Sophia", "Son of the Staves of Time", "Close up the Streams", "Three Treasures", "T.O.F. - Trinity", "Adulruna Rediviva"), guitar
  • Snowy Shaw – lead vocals ("Der Mitternachtslöwe" (choir), "Perennial Sophia" (choir), "Wisdom and the Cage", "Tuna 1613", "Trul" (choir), "Close up the Streams" (choir), "Wand of Abaris", "Three Treasures", "Adulruna Rediviva")
  • Katarina Lilja – vocals ("Gothic Kabbalah", "Perennial Sophia", "Trul", "Close up the Streams", "The Falling Stone", "Chain of Minerva")
  • Hannah Holgersson – vocals, soprano ("Der Mitternachtslöwe", "Wisdom and the Cage", "Son of the Staves of Time", "Trul" (choir), "Wand of Abaris" (choir), "T.O.F. - Trinity", "Chain of Minerva", "Adulruna Rediviva")
  • Jonas Samuelsson–Nerbe – tenor ("Tuna 1613", "Path to Arcady", "Adulruna Rediviva")
  • Anna Nyhlin – solo soprano on "The Falling Stone" and "Path to Arcady"
  • Karin Fjellander – choral soprano
  • Ken Hensley – Hammond organ
  • Joakim Svalberg – Hammond organ
  • Rolf Pilotti – solo flute on "Gothic Kabbalah" and "Trul"
  • Stefan Glaumann – tambourine

Others
  • Sanken Sandqvist – engineering
  • Thomas Ewerhard – design

Singles

Wand of Abaris

  1. "The Wand of Abaris"
  2. "Path to Arcady"
  3. "TOF – The Trinity"

The Wand of Abaris / Path to Arcady

  1. "The Wand of Abaris"
  2. "Path to Arcady"

Notes
  1. Jurek, Thom. "Allmusic: Gothic Kabbalah Review". Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  2. Johnsson, Christofer (2006-03-21). "My vocals + Metal Mania and ProgPower UK festivals". Archived from the original on 2010-05-16. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  3. Smit, Jackie (2007-01-07). "Chronicles of Chaos : Therion - Gothic Kabbalah : Review". Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  4. "swedishcharts.com - Discography Therion". Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  5. "Therion discography". MusicMight. Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  6. "swedishcharts.com - Therion - Gothic Kabbalah". Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  7. "lescharts.com - Therion - Gothic Kabbalah". Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  8. "Therion - Gothic Kabbalah - hitparade.ch" (in German). Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  9. "IndieHQ Independent Sales Chart 2-14-07". 2007-02-14. Archived from the original on 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
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